Youth's Lives Every Day
July 16, 2024 – The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people, released the following statement to acknowledge the two-year anniversary of the launch of The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, the three-digit code that connects people across the United States with free and confidential support for mental or behavioral health emergencies:
Statement from Jaymes Black (they/she/he pronouns), CEO at The Trevor Project:
“As our country continues to experience a mental health crisis that is especially pronounced among our young people, and even more so among those who are LGBTQ+, The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is absolutely critical in connecting youth with life-saving crisis services. The Trevor Project’s research found that 50% of LGBTQ+ young people who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it. Our work with the 988 Lifeline has allowed us to further bridge this gap – connecting more LGBTQ+ youth with the competent, inclusive services they need than ever before in our organization’s history. Last year, The Trevor Project served more than 500,000 crisis contacts, and the 988 Lifeline played a key factor in connecting a record high volume of young people with life-saving care.
In reflecting on the two years since the historic launch of the 988 Lifeline, we celebrate the landmark achievement of this bipartisan victory to expand access to mental health care across the country. Trevor is proud to have led the charge, along with our LGBTQ+ and mental health movement partners, to secure the option for LGBTQ+ youth to press ‘3’ after contacting the 988 Lifeline and connect with specialized LGBTQ+-inclusive services.
At the same time, we must call for continued investment, growth, and expansion of 988’s 24/7 services to ensure that mental health crisis services are available to all those across the country that need it. The 988 Lifeline has allowed us to take a monumental step toward addressing our ongoing national mental health crisis, as the recent National Strategy for Suicide Prevention acknowledged. Now is the time to deepen our collaborative efforts to ensure that all people – especially those who are young, queer, people of color, low-income, and living at intersections of these and other identities – can access the 988 Lifeline’s life-saving care equitably and efficiently.”
If you or someone you know needs help or support, The Trevor Project’s trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help, or by texting START to 678678.
LGBTQ+ young people can also access 24/7 support via 988. To call an LGBTQ+-trained crisis counselor, dial 988 and then press 3. To text, send the word PRIDE to 988. To chat, visit https://988lifeline.org/chat/ and opt-in for LGBTQ+-specific support by checking off the box for “LGBTQI+ support” in the Pre-Chat Survey.
